ISLAMABAD, 28 July 2021, (TON): The issue was flagged both by Prime Minister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in their separate meetings with visiting Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.

The Saudi top diplomat visited Pakistan as a follow-up of the visit undertaken by PM Imran to Riyadh in May this year.

Apart from other issues, one of the agenda items of the discussions during the Saudi foreign minister’s interaction with the Pakistani leadership was to seek the early return of Pakistani workers to Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia is home to almost 2 million Pakistanis working in different fields. However, many Pakistanis returned to the country but since then they are unable to go back to the kingdom due to travel restrictions.

FM Qureshi told a joint news conference with his Saudi counterpart that there were about 400,000 Pakistanis who had been waiting for the travel restrictions to be eased so that they could resume their work in the kingdom.

An official statement issued by the PM Office after the premier’s meeting with the Saudi foreign minister said “noting the difficulties being faced by Pakistani nationals due to travel restrictions, the prime minister underlined the importance of timely measures for facilitation of their return to Saudi Arabia.”

The tens of thousands of Pakistanis working in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have been the source of precious foreign exchange.

Last year overseas Pakistanis sent record remittances, much to the relief of government desperately looking for foreign exchange reserves.

Qureshi at the news conference also talked about Saudi Arabia importing Pakistani manpower for Saudi Arabia’s 2030 vision.